Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has criticized Rishabh Pant, saying that the Indian wicket-keeper batsman lags behind his other teammates in terms of fitness standards. Pant has always been under scrutiny for his fitness, which is also reflected in his wicketkeeping on several occasions. Meanwhile, the southpaw is also going through a lean phase as he had a tremendous IPL season after the T20I series against South Africa. The rise of Dinesh Karthik and Ishan Kishan Pant remains under pressure to make it to the T20I series against the recently concluded South Africa series World Cup Squad.
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Kaneria said that Pant’s fitness is very mediocre and lags behind others India During the captaincy tenure of Virat Kohli, his fitness level changed.
“Rishabh Pant’s fitness is not perfect and is very low. I would say it is rather mediocre. When Kohli took over the captaincy, the fitness standards of the team changed drastically. But Pant is lagging in comparison to others,” Kaneria said on his official YouTube channel.
Kaneria also said that current India captain Rohit Sharma is also not very fit but it is not a big concern for him as he is a batsman whereas Pant also has to keep wickets which requires a better fitness level. .
“Although Rohit Sharma is also not very fit, he is a batsman, and that is fine for him. But Pant will have to improve his fitness as he is a wicket-keeper. Even at this young age, we have noticed how he has not been able to bend properly while in recent games.
“It is because of his weight issues. This also affects its flexibility. He plays with the way of hitting the bowlers right from the beginning. Mental strength and maturity will also come from fitness.”
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Talking about Pant’s prospects in India’s T20 World Cup squad, Kaneria said that he will face tough competition from Dinesh Karthik, Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson.
“When you look at Dinesh Karthik, he is super fit even at this age. We have seen his batting as well as wicketkeeping. Pant may have scored 70 runs in the practice match, but his performance has not been consistent and his graph is going down. He will have to fight for his place in the team as there are other options like Dinesh Karthik, Ishaan Kishan and Sanju Samson,” said Kaneria.
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